National Mental
Health Information Center
Recovering Your Mental Health
A Self-Help Guide
Taking a Look at Yourself
Have you been told that you have a psychiatric or mental illness like
depression, bipolar disorder or manic depression, schizophrenia, borderline
personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dissociative disorder,
post-traumatic stress disorder, an eating disorder or an anxiety disorder?
Do any of the following feelings or experiences make you feel miserable or
get in the way of doing the things you want to do most or all of the time?
 | feeling like your life is hopeless and you are worthless
|
| wanting to end your life
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| thinking you are so great that you are world famous, or
that you can do supernatural things
|
| feeling anxious
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| being afraid of common things like going outdoors or
indoors, or of being seen in certain places
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| feeling like something bad is going to happen and being
afraid of everything
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| being very “shaky,” nervous, continually upset and
irritable
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| having a hard time controlling your behavior
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| being unable to sit still
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| doing things over and over again—finding it very hard to
stop doing things like washing your hands, counting everything or collecting
things you don’t need
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| doing strange or risky things – like wearing winter
clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter, or driving too fast
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| believing unusual things – like that the television or
radio are talking to you, or that the smoke alarms or digital clocks in public
buildings are taking pictures of you
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| saying things over and over that don’t make any sense
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| hearing voices in your head
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| seeing things you know aren’t really there
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| feeling as if everyone is against you or out to get you
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| feeling out of touch with the world
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| having periods of time go by when you don’t know what has
happened or how the time has passed — you don’t remember being there but
others say you were
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| feeling unconnected to your body
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| having an unusually hard time keeping your mind on what
you are doing
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| a sudden or gradual decrease or increase in your ability
to think, focus, make decisions and understand things
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| feeling like you want to cut yourself or hurt yourself in
another physical way |
